Celebrating our Students: Last week and weekend were one of the most enjoyable I have had in a long time. During the week we were able to celebrate our senior Fine Arts performers as well as our athletes.
The number of awards and championships these students provided us are staggering, and an overwhelming number of both fine art students and athletes will be taking their talents in some way, shape, or form to the college and professional levels. Congratulations to all!
The Corporate Challenge: We also put a healthy team of employees together for the Corporate Challenge. This is a great team bonding night for us. The food and company were great, and a math teacher and transportation department worker set blistering paces for the rest of us who took the time to enjoy the scenery!
BOCES Graduations: I had the opportunity to attend two BOCES graduations. The first was for West Genesee students involved in BOCES Special Education programs, and the second was for West Genesee Students involved in career, trade, and technical education programs. Many of these graduates will head to college or good paying jobs in a few weeks.
I really enjoyed hearing some of their speeches about rallying over adversity and never giving up. Very inspirational and I am looking forward to shaking many of their hands again at our graduation ceremony this Saturday.
Classes Come to an End at the High School: You would have also been proud of how our high school students acted on the last day of classes. Yes we should "expect" them to act well, but there is pressure on them from the outside to conduct "pranks" and generally disrupt the school so people have something to talk about. Our students did not succumb to the pressure, conducted themselves with the utmost class and respect, and are now in the ready line for graduation.
Everyone in our school community knows Andrew Bowman and our custodian "Jimbo"(pictured above), and I got to be with him on his official last day as a high school student as Andrew and his life lessons move on to the next level.
Celebrating Flag Day: This past Friday our elementary students celebrated Flag Day with parades and ceremonies.It is always fun to watch our students honor our flag. Hooray for the red, white and blue!
Annual Professional Performance Review (APPR): Teachers and administrators are struggling through the new evaluation system that has been put in place for them. Much of the struggle has to do with trying to measure the success of a teacher or administrator based on a student "score", as well as evidence collection that what is being taught is of a high caliber. A teacher or administrator cannot be effectively evaluated on these measures because students and families change from year to year, as do their teaching and administering situations.
To me the following picture would be the entirety of my "artifact collection", and I would want my performance evaluated on this photo to the right. Every person in this picture (except for the young boy) were either students I taught or was their superintendent. Now in their thirties, they are grown up and getting married.
I was asked to be in this wedding by the person to the right of me because he felt that I changed the path of his life and was there when he needed support the most. Many teachers and administrators have these stories and artifacts. I had a blast catching up with all of them and although some of them knew the direct path to my office back in the day, they have all become contributing members of their communities. Evaluate that!
Enjoy the week. Graduation on Saturday!
Chris
Classes Come to an End at the High School: You would have also been proud of how our high school students acted on the last day of classes. Yes we should "expect" them to act well, but there is pressure on them from the outside to conduct "pranks" and generally disrupt the school so people have something to talk about. Our students did not succumb to the pressure, conducted themselves with the utmost class and respect, and are now in the ready line for graduation.
